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There once was a time when we warriors were the kings of every aspect
of the physical game, both in PvE (raw output over time and the obvious
damage capacity in tanking) and PvP (Mortal Strike had no equal for
some time). At this point though, it takes a lot more effort to make
yourself stand out. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/druid"
target="_blank">Druids will say they can hold
groups better with their Swipe spam.  href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/paladin"
target="_blank">Paladins will say they are better
at controlling an encounter immediately. Even moderately geared href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/deathknight"
target="_blank">Death Knights can hit Frost
Presence and give us a run for our money. But you're don't
care about that. You're here to learn how to build this warrior from
scratch to be a beast and not some sissy bear, or holy/unholy pretty
boy with a free mount; you are here to be a damage dealing, damage
absorbing machine. This guide will supply you with the basics of the
warrior gear to make our class proud!



To begin, let us define the basic stats so you know what contributes to
what.

• Strength
  - We hit stuff on a regular basis. Hit harder with more of
  this. Block harder with it as well. This is a high
  priority stat no matter what your build, directly impacting your Attack
  Power and Block Rating.
• Agility
  - The two main traits of agility, to us Warriors, are Dodge
  and Critical Rating. However, we don't mind getting hit with our huge
  mitigation, and that builds rage. As such, this is primarily
  an offensive statistic.
• Stamina
  - We are the life of the party. Literally. If we go down,
  either the raid follows in about a minute, or substantial DPS is lost
  and the fight might just last long enough for you to go pick up a
  pizza. So if you can get this on gear, do it.
• Intellect - This
  does not exist. If you wear a piece of equipment with this stat on it,
  you will be laughed at unless it provides ridiculous bonuses otherwise,
  or it looks damn good... but we'll still laugh at you in that case too.
• Spirit
  - This barely exists. Wrath
  of the Lich King has blessed us with an innate self heal,
  and even before that, you should never ever look at this stat on an
  item and say "Oooh, 49 spirit!" Seriously, leave this to the cloth
  weaklings.
• Armor/AC
  - Wear tougher, get hit for less. Unless a mail (or leather
  before 40) piece has wild stats that you can't live without and you
  wouldn't be stealing it from a class it was designed for, stick with
  the heavy metal. Considering we live on the front lines, you
  can't go wrong with this.

We'll get into the ugly details of numbers in a later
article. For now, this will do.



Obviously, we want to hit stuff hard, and survive to hit stuff longer.
Strength and Stamina are the bread and butter of every single plate
wearing badass you see. When you're leveling in the old world, this
means taking "of the bear" as your prime target for green equipment. So
you now know what you want, and you're looking to make some big HP
pools and big yellow numbers for those puny mages to look at, with a
side of speed to make things bleed more heavily than
usual. Here are some of the old world instance highlights for
these stats.

• In the late 20's,  href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/tth_wow_db/zone?zone=Razorfen%20Kraul"
  target="_blank">Razorfen Kraul is a Warrior's
  dream.  The Tusken Helm and Ferine Leggings (should you have
  an opportunity to go for them) provide a huge boost in your
  firepower.  Corpsemaker, with its slow speed and perfect
  stats, will make you king of the PVP bracket and last you until your
  Whirlwind weapon, and the main quest gives a perfect belt. 
  Don't forget about this place if you're Alliance!

• Pick up the href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/tth_wow_db/zone?zone=The%20Scarlet%20Monastery"
  target="_blank">Scarlet Monastery quests
  ASAP!  Both factions can get a good one hand sword, Alliance
  gets a near perfectly aligned 2h axe option and Horde gets a good
  neckpiece option.  From the Armory, the most important piece
  would be the Raging Berserker's Helm, which you will likely use into
  the low to mid 40's, but many good drops are from that boss and you
  will likely have a lot of competition.  Every warrior should
  be carrying around an Aegis of the Scarlet Commander as well,
  regardless of spec; it's simply too good.

• href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/tth_wow_db/zone?zone=The%20Sunken%20Temple"
  target="_blank">Sunken Temple has an often
  overlooked boss that is right up every warrior's alley. 
  Atal'alarion has one fantastic waist drop, and a good polearm for
  warriors.  With a little luck, you might get a Drakeclaw Band
  that will last you until Outlands.

As you probably know, at 58, you'll be hitting the road to Outlands and
beyond.  Now you should have a good idea of what's what to
your stats.  Starting with Outlands gear, you can specialize
further into the statistics with the improved itemization from quest
rewards and instances.  Let the girly men squabble at the
auction house for hours on end, we have better things to do!



Specialization



Fury
- Critical Rating is extremely important to keep flurry up. Until you
get what you want in this school and move to Deep Wounds, the majority
of your damage is raw physical auto attacks.  Improved
Berserker Stance increases your attack power by a percentage, so get
all the strength you can to make those Bloodthirsts inbetween your
whirlwinds more brutal!  At this point in time, Hit Rating
gear will make itself known. Do not neglect it, you'll need
some to counteract your innate miss due to dual wielding. Any
trinket that boosts your attack power is fair game. Make a macro that
hits Death Wish, Recklessness, your trinkets and any other gear or
racials and unload!



Arms -
Critical is not as important as Fury due to having Improved Overpower
and the new Overpower Glyph.  With those in play, almost every
mitigation that cancels your attack will enable a surefire deep wounds
strike. Some +hit will be necessary, but since you're moving
to Northrend and not raiding at 70, you can almost neglect it and go
for more critical instead.  Stick to the big slow two-handers,
and make every mortal strike count!  The Rend Glyph is your
friend if you're thirsty for free overpowers!



Protection -
Defense, Parry, Dodge, Block.  You have a lot of ground to
cover here, but you are also about 5 times as resilient as the above
builds. Take what you can for the above stats and fight at
your own steady pace, and use the new and improved Cleave Glyph in
conjunction with your shield block talents to show those paladins what
a real tank can do soloing multiple enemies.  Any trinket that
gives you an emergency health boost or defense boost will serve you
well when things get dicey, but since you fight a war of attrition,
trinkets with constant boosts to stats are likely the better
call.  Don't forget your shield spikes!



By the time you reach the later Outlands, you'll have a good feel for
what items suit your talent spec and play style.  If there is
one thing you should keep in mind no matter what you do as a warrior on
the way up, play to your strengths, don't cover your
weaknesses.  Be a single target wrecking crew, be a whirlwind
of multiple mob fury, or be a steel wall of mitigation that lets no
blow through to himself or his allies. Just don't try and do
it all. You know what we call those people who try to do it all, and
end up being the middle of the road?  Druids.